1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an occupant safeguarding door stop or check, and particularly to a stop suitable for use on a vertically hinged inwardly openable door or sliding horizontal doors and/or windows.
2. Description of the Prior Art
My prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,737,186 and 3,809,419, issued on June 5, 1973, and May 7, 1974, respectively, disclose occupant safeguarding door stops which permit an occupant of a dwelling to effectively cope with stopping the entrance of unauthorized persons even though the door is in a partially open position. Generally speaking, my prior stops include a base mountable on the lower portion of the inner surface of a vertically hinged door, and have pivotally mounted thereto a rigid leg member which can be pushed as by foot pressure into a position frictionally engaging a floor associated with the door and locked into the floor-engaging, door-retarding position regardless of efforts to manipulate the door in a manner contemplated to release the stop. The same principle applies to horizontally sliding doors/windows, with bottom member holding overhead to door frame or window frames.
A difficulty encountered with my prior door stops, however, is that the locking mechanisms are somewhat critical of precise mounting of the stop on an associated door or window, and that situations are encountered wherein subsequent to mounting a stop on a door, the surface of the associated floor or overhead door track is varied as by laying vinyl tile over a wood floor, or placing carpeting on the floor, and the like, which causes the distance between the stop and the floor or sliding door frame to vary. Accordingly, the locking mechanism of the stop will not be engaged when the stop is pressed into floor-engaging or overhead frame of sliding door/window, door-stopping position.